THE Philippine Azkals got off to a promising start to the second reign of returning head coach Hans Michael Weiss, beating Nepal, 1-0, on Thursday night in their international friendly at the Rizal Memorial Stadium.
Jarvey Gayoso scored the lone goal of the match in the 49th minute as the Azkals captured their first win of 2023, a week after management re-installed Weiss as head coach after nearly a decade.
READ: Weiss vows Azkals 'will be hard to beat'
The goal wasn’t the prettiest but the Azkals will surely take it.
Gayoso knocked in the goal after falling down from a contact with Nepal goalkeeper Kiran Lumbu, managing to get a touch while on the ground just enough to guide the ball past the goal posts.
Azkals goalkeeper Patrick Deyto was also solid in the match, keeping a clean sheet after a foiling a couple of chances from Nepal in the second half.
Weiss was happy with the win even with the Azkals players not yet in peak fitness at the conclusion of their respective seasons from their mother leagues.
“You could see that people came from holidays. They weren’t in good shape. You can’t put into reality what you want. You could see that today. We were a bit lucky,” said Weiss.
Weiss reserved his best praise for Deyto.
“I want to thank Patrick for his performance. I was critical during the game and in the run-up in the game. This is who I am… He saved us in the game,” said Weiss.
Stephan Schrock also made a surprise appearance in the 71st minute, nearly six months after he announced his retirement from international play at the end of the 2022 AFF Mitsubishi Electric Cup.
The Philippines will cap off the Fifa international window with a match against Chinese Taipei on Monday, also at the Rizal Memorial Stadium.
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